Soybean Hulls for Cattle: How Much to Feed, Price vs Hay

By the XES Netting team — bale net-wrap manufacturer · Updated October 14, 2026 · ~23 min read

Soybean hulls for cattle are the seed coats a soybean processing plant removes before it makes meal and oil. To a cow they are an energy feed built from highly digestible fiber: about 12% crude protein and 77% TDN on a dry-matter basis, with almost no starch, in the National Academies averages that Ohio State University Extension tabulated in June 2026. That fiber is why a few pounds a day can supplement hay without the drop in hay digestion that comes with feeding more than a little corn, and why hulls are no substitute for soybean meal: about 12% protein on a dry-matter basis (about 10.8% as fed) against meal sold as 46.5% to 48% protein as fed.

They are also a live question this fall. More soybean processing means more hulls; Nebraska Extension pointed to the new plants in July 2026. Yet USDA’s plant prices for October 5–9 were well above a year earlier in much of the Corn Belt: loose hulls averaged $140 a ton in Illinois (quotes of $125 to $155) and $185 in Iowa, against $116.67 and $109.29 a year earlier. Hay costs more too. The U.S. average price for hay other than alfalfa was $152 a ton in August, $16 more than a year before, and 53% of U.S. pasture and range was rated poor or very poor in early September. Whether hulls pay depends on your hay, your freight and how you feed them.

This guide is for cow-calf producers, backgrounders and anyone short on hay who is pricing soy hulls for the winter. It covers what hulls are, how much to feed, how they work alongside hay, what they are worth at this fall’s prices, pellets versus loose hulls, and how they compare with corn, corn gluten feed and wheat middlings. It is not a ration: test your hay (our guide to reading a hay test explains the numbers) and work with a nutritionist. For the other big co-product, see our guide to distillers grains for cattle; for the whole winter feed plan, how to stretch a short hay supply.

XES makes bale net wrap, and soy hulls usually go to work beside round bales, so we read the threads through the hay. We read 413 posts from 117 archived AgTalk and HayTalk discussions that mention soybean hulls, corn gluten feed or wheat middlings (109 of the discussions started in 2022 or later), then checked the claims against Extension publications from Nebraska, Ohio State, Auburn and Florida and against USDA’s October 2026 price reports.

What soybean hulls are, and what they are not

Auburn University’s Darrell Rankins describes them plainly: “Soybean hulls are actually the skin of the soybean which comes off during processing.” Nebraska Extension adds that they “are light and fluffy and thus are often pelleted to increase bulk density and ease of handling and transport.” Either way the cow gets the same feed: Auburn says “the loose and pelleted hulls are equal” nutritionally.

What makes hulls useful is the kind of energy they carry. Corn’s energy is mostly starch, which ferments fast and can slow the fiber-digesting microbes a cow on hay depends on. Ohio State University Extension’s June 2026 fact sheet on supplements groups soybean hulls with wheat middlings, corn gluten feed, distillers grains and brewers grains as co-products that are “typically high in total digestible nutrients (TDN) (> 75%), low in starch (< 30%), and moderate to high in CP (> 12%),” so they “provide energy while maintaining a rumen environment that supports fiber digestion.” Its table puts the feeds side by side:

The 77% TDN figure is an average, and hulls are the classic example of a feed whose energy value depends on how it is used. Rankins notes that three National Research Council publications have listed hulls at 64%, 80% and 77% TDN, and explains why: in a diet that is 90% hulls, corn gives 10% to 20% faster gains, but “when we feed diets that contain only a small portion of the diet as corn or soyhulls then the soyhulls provide gains equal to those provided by the corn.” Nebraska Extension’s Aaron Berger gives the same range, 64% to 80% TDN, and says that fed at 0.5% of body weight in a forage-based diet, hulls have “an energy value nearly equal to corn, or as high as 80% total digestible nutrients on a dry matter basis.”

Hulls do carry some protein. At about 12% crude protein (9% to 14% depending on the source, Nebraska Extension says) they have roughly a quarter of soybean meal’s protein, and Nebraska describes them as “a high-quality fiber-based energy and protein source.” Six pounds of hull dry matter supplies about 0.7 lb of crude protein, so count it when you balance the ration.

But hulls are not a concentrated protein supplement, and they are a costly way to buy protein: at this fall’s prices, protein from Illinois loose hulls ($140 a ton, about 10.8% protein as fed) cost about 65 cents a pound, against about 40 to 41 cents from Illinois soybean meal ($383.22 a ton, sold as 46.5% to 48% protein as fed), in an XES calculation from USDA’s October 9 feedstuff report. If your hay test shows a large protein shortfall on low-quality forage, look at the options in our guide to protein tubs, range cubes and liquid feed or at distillers grains; buy hulls mainly for energy.

How much soy hulls to feed cattle

Nebraska Extension’s July 2026 article is the clearest starting point. Fed at 0.5% of body weight to cattle on forage, hulls approach corn in energy, and “feeding soybean hulls at 20-30% of the diet on a dry matter basis appears to often be an optimum level of inclusion.” For a 1,200-lb cow, 0.5% of body weight is 6 lb of hull dry matter, about 6.7 lb as fed at 90% dry matter. That sits just under the line Auburn draws: “At high levels of intake (greater than 7 pounds per day) soyhulls are conducive to bloat and a bloat preventative should be used.”

Weaned calves are a natural fit for hulls. Nebraska calls them “quite palatable” and readily eaten, “making them an excellent component of creep feeds and diets for calves at weaning.” Auburn’s long-stem roughage rule applies to calves as well. Our guides to weaning calves and backgrounding calves cover the rest of those rations.

Producers’ own rations for growing cattle often run higher, because the hulls are part of a mixed feed rather than a supplement to hay. In January 2024 a northeast Kansas producer described the commodity mix he was feeding 600-lb steers:

"Currently using commodity mix wheat mids soy hulls and corn gluten 14% protein … feeding 7- 8 lbs per day 600lb steers"

— seenitall, NE Kansas · AgTalk thread 1146665

For cows, the amount should come from the hay test, not a rule of thumb. A HayTalk member described that first step in June 2017:

"tested hay when I fed my cows just to see how much soybean hulls to feed to balance things out."

— Beav · HayTalk thread 71145

Soy hulls with hay: supplement or substitute?

The reason hulls suit hay-fed cattle shows up in what happens to hay intake. Auburn’s example starts with cows eating about 25 lb of hay a day as they begin calving. Add 5 lb of corn, and “their hay consumption drops to about 18 or 19 pounds per day”: total intake falls to about 23 or 24 lb and the corn “will also decrease the digestibility of the hay.” Add 5 lb of soyhulls instead, and the cows eat the hulls plus “about 21 to 22 pounds of hay per day and the digestibility of the hay may be improved.” Rankins’ conclusion: hulls are “equal to the corn as a supplement for cattle consuming forages because of their positive impact on forage intake and digestibility.”

Ohio State’s fact sheet puts a number on the corn side: starch supplements such as corn “should generally be limited to approximately 0.25% of a cow’s body weight,” about 3 to 4 lb a day for most mature cows, because feeding more than about 0.4% of body weight has been shown to reduce forage intake and digestibility. Hulls do not carry that starch load, which is why Nebraska can recommend about twice that rate.

So are hulls a supplement or a hay substitute? Partly both. Nebraska Extension writes that “one pound of soybean hulls on a dry matter basis could replace 1.5 to 2.0 pounds of low to medium quality hay,” and that hulls tend to have a “synergistic effect” with medium- to low-quality forage: they do not replace forage pound for pound and “in many cases actually increase the total dry matter consumption.” That is useful when hay is short or poor, which is where Nebraska says hulls fit best. It is not permission to stop feeding hay: both Nebraska and Auburn insist on long-stem forage in the diet (see the limits section).

Producers use hulls exactly that way, as one of several ways to stretch forage. Asked in December 2022 what to feed 500-lb calves going onto wheat pasture, a producer answered:

"If plenty of forage, nothing. Some say dry hay “slows it down”. Doesn’t increase gain. Stocking more cattle than forage, hay in rings is easier than anything else. Silage also will help stretch it. Soy hulls or rolled corn when price is right."

— Macttle · AgTalk thread 1088946

A western Iowa feeder who pays for hulls up front to hold inventory described the switch in December 2023:

"I buy and pay up front so I have inventory,if they get cheaper probably buy more-when there underneath hay price we pull hay out"

— garvo, western iowa,by Denison · AgTalk thread 1139645

“Pull hay out” works only up to a point; the next section on limits explains where.

Hulls also pair naturally with the lowest-quality bales on the farm. If your winter plan leans on baled cornstalks or straw, our guides to grazing or baling cornstalks and net-wrapping cornstalk bales cover the forage side; a hay test tells you how big the energy and protein gap is before you price hulls to fill it.

What soy hulls are worth this fall

USDA’s National Grain and Oilseed Processor Feedstuff Report for October 5–9, 2026, the latest report week available, gives plant asking prices. They are FOB the plant, so add trucking:

Minnesota’s loose and pelleted hulls were both quoted at $300 with no comparison that week, so treat that as a thin market rather than a trend. If hulls are fed in a way that earns less energy than the table assumes, the cost rises: at 64% TDN, the low end of the published range, Illinois loose hulls come to about 12.2 cents per pound of TDN instead of 10.1.

Now the hay. USDA’s August 2026 prices received for hay other than alfalfa, priced the same way at 88% dry matter and 57% TDN (the grass-hay assumption in our distillers guide; your hay test will differ):

Three readings follow. In Ohio and Kentucky, where hay is dear, hulls at the plant were the cheaper energy by a wide margin that week. In Illinois the two were even. In Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, where hay prices received were near or below $110, average hay was the cheaper energy per pound of TDN. Corn sat in between: Iowa’s state average cash bid of $4.38 a bushel on October 14 works out to about 10.2 cents per pound of TDN at 87% dry matter and 88% TDN, but Ohio State generally advises keeping corn to about 0.25% of body weight for cows on forage, to protect forage use.

The TDN comparison also undersells hulls when they stretch poor hay. If Nebraska’s 1.5-to-2.0 replacement holds for your hay, a ton of hull dry matter does the work of 1.5 to 2 tons of hay dry matter. With $100 hay (88% dry matter), that makes hulls worth up to about $153 to $205 a ton as fed before freight and feeding costs; with $152 hay, about $233 to $311 (XES calculation). Treat those as ceilings for low- to medium-quality hay, not as a promise; the replacement rate is the variable to check against your own cows’ condition.

Timing matters too. Rankins’ advice: “Purchasing the soyhulls in late summer and early fall are the best strategy for purchasing at a bargain price. Always shop around and compare it to the price of corn.”

Producers price hulls against corn. A southwest Minnesota feeder’s rule, December 2023:

"Hulls are currently 85% of corn here, sometimes they will drop to 60%. That’s a buy."

— Hick, Sw mn · AgTalk thread 1139645

By that rule, this fall’s Iowa hulls are no bargain: $185 a ton loose against about $156 a ton for corn at the state’s average cash bid, roughly 118% of corn (XES calculation). Prices also swing within a season. In January 2023 a producer at Callao, Missouri, posted the pellet prices quoted at Quincy, where he delivers soybeans:

"Jan sbh pellets are 400 at Quincy. Can bring home after taking load of beans over. They were 225 a month ago. Feb is 400 march is 350, April 275"

— Jon, Callao Missouri · AgTalk thread 1095681

The same Minnesota feeder wrote in October 2022 that he had bought a few loads for $140 that January; when he called a month before posting, none were available until November and the price was $240, “more then corn was at the time,” so he bought none. And hulls do not always track hay. In March 2026, replying to a north Florida producer who had paid 5 cents a pound for peanut shells, the western Iowa feeder listed his local prices:

"seems high, soyhulls $100-ton, hay is running $72 ton, some wet gluten at $65"

— garvo, western iowa,by Denison · AgTalk thread 1231200

Demand can be local, too. In June 2023 a northeastern Ohio producer reported:

"Bunge in Bellevue Ohio has them for $175 fob. I was picking up meal there yesterday and there was a line of guys after me picking up hulls."

— Jay NE Ohio, northeastern Ohio · AgTalk thread 1117180

Pellets or loose hulls: handling and storage

Nutritionally there is no difference; Auburn says loose and pelleted hulls are equal. The difference is physical. Nebraska Extension notes that hulls are pelleted to increase bulk density and ease handling and transport, and that difference shows up in price: Illinois pellets were quoted at $200 to $215 a ton the week of October 5–9, against $125 to $155 for loose hulls.

Producers’ handling notes fill in the rest. Pelleting is what makes hulls flow easily, but feed mixes can still hang up: a producer who gives his location as Indian Territory wrote in April 2023 that when he fed “a third chops, a third DDGs, and a third soy hulls” through a seed tender, it would plug on high-humidity days. Pelleted feeds also keep reasonably well if they stay dry. A northeast Kansas producer’s storage advice, February 2026:

"Pelleted feeds- Typically store longer in the summer without getting buggy. 3 months at summer temps will degrade some vitamins and amino acids. … Winter- you could store all winter into spring with out issue. Cold temps prevent the mold, bugs and degradation."

— Ksbee, NE Kansas · AgTalk thread 1228690

Inspect every load before you accept it. In March 2024 a northeast Colorado producer described a load that nutritionists had talked his operation into buying:

"We had this exact same thing with a load of soy hulls. … Payed like 400 a ton for it and payed freight on 800 miles to get it here. It’s still sitting in a pile outback. Full of corn, bugs and fine cobs and wet clumps and of black/yellow soy hulls."

— A&M, Ne Colorado · AgTalk thread 1153982

Buy from a plant or a broker you can call back, ask for the analysis, and look at the load before it goes in the bin. If you feed several commodities, store each one dry and separately; our TMR mixer guide covers mixing them with hay.

Bloat, roughage and the other limits

The same quality that makes hulls valuable, fiber the rumen digests quickly, sets their limits. Nebraska Extension explains that hulls are low in lignin, so “the cellulose is highly digestible in the rumen, and fermentation rates are rapid. This also means that when soybean hulls are fed at a high percentage of the diet, bloat can be an issue.” Fed at high levels with little long-stem forage, the small particles also pass through too quickly for rumen microbes to use them fully; long-stem forage or lower-quality roughage “serve to slow the rate of passage and increase the amount of time soybean hulls spend in the rumen.”

Auburn’s cautions are practical. Above 7 lb a day, use a bloat preventative, and “always provide some access to long-stem roughage, whether it be hay or grazing. Quality of the roughage is not as important as particle size.” Ask your nutritionist or veterinarian which preventative fits your cattle and feed it according to its label.

Producers make the same point. In September 2024, advising on a ration of corn silage and distillers for 620-lb calves when hay was short, a west-central Iowa feeder wrote:

"I would give them some corn stalks or shucks also, using silage as roughage is not a good practice and you could substitute stalks for some silage and get the same gain. Soyhulls are very similar to silage in this respect, they don’t replace roughage."

— nkline, West Central Iowa · AgTalk thread 1174272

None of the threads we read reported bloat in cattle fed soy hulls, but forum silence is not evidence of safety; the limits above come from the research.

Two more limits are about the rest of the ration. First, hulls add only modest protein, so on poor hay test the forage, count the protein the hulls supply, and add a protein supplement if the ration is still short. Second, if you blend hulls with corn gluten feed or distillers grains, the blend inherits their sulfur and phosphorus: the University of Florida’s corn gluten feed fact sheet puts gluten feed at about 0.5% sulfur and 0.9% to 1.1% phosphorus on a dry-matter basis, recommends keeping the whole diet’s sulfur under 0.4%, and calls for enough supplemental calcium. Our distillers guide covers the same checks for distillers.

Soy hulls vs corn, corn gluten feed and wheat midds

Each of the common winter supplements does a slightly different job. This table compares them at the averages in USDA’s October 5–9, 2026 feedstuff report, with corn at the October 14 Iowa bid:

Corn gluten feed is the closest substitute for hulls in this list, with about twice the protein. The University of Florida’s fact sheet says the protein and energy in 100 lb of gluten feed at 90% dry matter roughly equal 75 lb of corn plus 25 lb of 48% soybean meal, but because of its sulfur it recommends limiting gluten feed to 50% or less of dry matter intake (about 12 lb a day for a mature cow), and notes that many nutritionists prefer 0.5% of body weight. Its suggestion for stretching gluten feed is the one that brings the two feeds together: blend it with soybean hulls.

In the threads, producers pick among these feeds by price and by the job. A southwest Minnesota feeder’s approach for cattle on feed, November 2025:

"Sometimes byproducts can be boughten cheaper than corn. Feed soy hulls in the grower ration and save the corn for fats."

— Hick, Sw mn · AgTalk thread 1220476

Corn gluten feed comes up for cows on hay as well. A northeast Kansas producer described his winter routine in February 2026:

"Feeding 35# dm grass hay and 2.5# corn gluten feed per day. I feed gluten M-W-F. You can see the bale processor windrow beyond the string of cows."

— Doug61, Eastern NE KS · AgTalk thread 1230297

Whatever you buy, ask for the analysis. Asked in March 2026 how to mix cracked corn and gluten pellets for old cows nursing calves, a New York producer answered:

"If your pellets are 24 percent and the corn is 8 percent you need about 3 to 1 to make a 12 percent feed. Gluten pellets are pretty variable, so you should ask your supplier for a tag."

— Haleiwa, West Chazy, New York · AgTalk thread 1231606

In the Southeast, the problem is often supply rather than price. A Florida Panhandle producer wrote in November 2022, replying to a Georgia dairy-turned-beef operation:

"Right now it is extremely difficult to keep anything consistently. Corn gluten and soy hulls would be the top choices but are hard to source. Peanut skins are ok but not great. Outside of those options in the south, good luck."

— David, FL Panhandle · AgTalk thread 1084269

A soy hull buying worksheet

At those prices, 5 lb of Illinois loose hulls a day costs about 35 cents a cow before freight, and 6.7 lb about 47 cents (XES calculation). Re-run the numbers whenever prices move: in a year, hull quotes in the table rose 10% to 112%, and U.S. hay prices received rose 12% for hay other than alfalfa and 18% for all hay.

Frequently asked questions

Are soybean hulls good for cattle?

Yes, as an energy supplement for cattle on forage. Hulls average about 77% TDN and 12% crude protein (dry-matter basis) with almost no starch, so they add energy without the hay-digestion penalty of larger amounts of corn. They suit weaned calves and cows on hay, but they are not a concentrated protein supplement or a complete feed.

How many pounds of soybean hulls can a cow eat per day?

Nebraska Extension uses about 0.5% of body weight in forage diets: 6 lb of dry matter, roughly 6.7 lb as fed, for a 1,200-lb cow. Auburn University warns that more than 7 lb a day invites bloat and calls for a bloat preventative and long-stem roughage. Set the amount from a hay test and body condition with a nutritionist.

Are soy hulls better than corn for cows on hay?

Often, as a supplement. In Auburn’s example, 5 lb of corn cut hay intake from about 25 lb to 18 or 19 lb; 5 lb of hulls left it at 21 to 22 lb. Ohio State generally advises keeping corn near 0.25% of body weight for cows on forage, to protect forage use. Compare delivered prices per pound of energy.

Can soybean hulls replace hay?

Only partly. Nebraska Extension says one pound of hull dry matter could replace 1.5 to 2.0 lb of low- to medium-quality hay, which helps when hay is short. But hulls are not roughage: Nebraska and Auburn both say cattle need long-stem forage, which slows passage and lowers bloat risk. Use hulls to stretch hay, not to end it.

What is the difference between soybean hulls and soybean meal?

Hulls are the seed coat, mainly an energy feed: about 77% TDN and 12% crude protein on a dry-matter basis (about 10.8% as fed). Soybean meal is a concentrated protein supplement sold as 46.5% to 48% protein as fed. At October 2026 Illinois prices, protein cost about 65 cents a pound from hulls and 40 to 41 cents from meal.

The bottom line on soybean hulls for cattle

Soybean hulls for cattle are best understood as fiber-based energy that works with hay instead of against it. Fed at up to about 0.5% of body weight, they can match corn as a supplement for cattle on forage, and Nebraska Extension suggests each pound of hull dry matter can stand in for 1.5 to 2 lb of low- to medium-quality hay. Keep long-stem forage in front of the cattle, watch intakes above 7 lb a day, test the hay so you know energy is the gap, and price hulls per pound of TDN delivered to your yard. This fall that comparison favors hulls where hay is expensive and hulls are close; in cheap-hay country, buy them only to fix a quality problem the hay cannot.

Hulls stretch the hay you have; the rest of the winter depends on how much hay you put up and how much of it survives storage and feeding. For that side, see how much hay a cow eats, how to store round bale hay and how to reduce round bale feeding waste.

If you bale your own hay, XES Extreme bale net wrap was tested by DLG (Report 7439), which rated its edge-to-edge bale coverage as good in practical use.

Research note: We read 413 posts from 117 archived AgTalk and HayTalk discussions that mention soybean hulls, corn gluten feed or wheat middlings (the mentions and the posts around them; 109 discussions started in 2022 or later; posts from 2014 to May 2026), then checked them in October 2026 against the sources linked below. Producer prices and rations are what individual producers reported at the time and, where stated, the place given; they are examples, not market data. Figures marked as XES calculations use the assumptions stated with them, and plant prices exclude freight. XES sells bale net wrap and does not endorse any feed, supplier or plant; nothing here replaces a ration balanced by a nutritionist or veterinary advice. Sources: Nebraska Extension BeefWatch, Soybean Hulls can be an Exceptional Supplement for Forage (Aaron Berger, July 1, 2026); Ohio State University Extension, Choosing the Right Supplemental Feeds for Beef Cows (AS-1030, Haley Linder, June 10, 2026); Auburn University, Feeding Soybean Hulls to Beef Cattle (Darrell Rankins); UF/IFAS Extension, Corn Gluten Feed for Beef Cattle (AN201, Bob Myer and Matt Hersom); USDA AMS, National Grain and Oilseed Processor Feedstuff Report (October 9, 2026); USDA NASS, Agricultural Prices (September 29, 2026); USDA AMS, Iowa Daily Cash Grain Bids (October 14, 2026); James Mitchell, University of Arkansas, The 3 Ps of Herd Expansion: Not Enough Pasture or Patience (Ohio BEEF Cattle Letter, September 16, 2026).

Featured photograph: Cows Eating at Bale Feeder, Carl Young, South Dakota, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Red Angus cows eat hay from a round-bale feeder on a South Dakota ranch. Image unchanged apart from display resizing.